The domestication of water: water management in the ancient world and its prehistoric origins in the Jordan Valley

2010 ◽  
Vol 368 (1931) ◽  
pp. 5249-5274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Mithen
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
The World ◽  
Ancient Civilizations

The ancient civilizations were dependent upon sophisticated systems of water management. The hydraulic engineering works found in ancient Angkor (ninth to thirteenth century AD), the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan (thirteenth to fifteenth century AD), Byzantine Constantinople (fourth to sixth century AD) and Nabatean Petra (sixth century BC to AD 106) are particularly striking because each of these is in localities of the world that are once again facing a water crisis. Without water management, such ancient cities would never have emerged, nor would the urban communities and towns from which they developed. Indeed, the ‘domestication’ of water marked a key turning point in the cultural trajectory of each region of the world where state societies developed. This is illustrated by examining the prehistory of water management in the Jordan Valley, identifying the later Neolithic (approx. 8300–6500 years ago) as a key period when significant investment in water management occurred, laying the foundation for the development of the first urban communities of the Early Bronze Age.

Tel Yaqush—An Early Bronze Age Village in the Central Jordan Valley, Israel

2019 ◽  
Vol 381 ◽  
pp. 107-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Rotem ◽  
Mark Iserlis ◽  
Felix Höflmayer ◽  
Yorke M. Rowan
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
Central Jordan

scholarly journals The Beginning of the Early Bronze Age in the North Jordan Valley: New14C Determinations from Pella in Jordan

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 905-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bourke ◽  
Ugo Zoppi ◽  
John Meadows ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Samantha Gibbins
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
Precursor Phase ◽  
Chalcolithic Period ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
Ams Dates

This article reports on 10 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from early phases of the Early Bronze Age at the long-lived settlement of Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl) in the north Jordan Valley. The new AMS dates fall between 3400 and 2800 cal BC, and support a recent suggestion that all Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased by 3800/3700 cal BC at the latest (Bourke et al. 2004b). Other recently published Early Bronze Age14C data strongly supports this revisionist scenario, suggesting that the earliest phase of the Early Bronze Age (EBA I) occupied much of the 4th millennium cal BC (3800/3700 to 3100/3000 cal BC). As this EB I period in the Jordan Valley is generally viewed as the key precursor phase in the development of urbanism (Joffe 1993), this revisionist chronology has potentially radical significance for understanding both the nature and speed of the move from village settlement towards a complex urban lifeway.

scholarly journals THE FLESH-HOOK FEATURING A SCENE OF FIST FIGHTING FROM A MAIKOP CULTURE DOLMEN NEAR THE VILLAGE OF TSARSKAYA IN THE NORTHWEST CAUCASUS

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
В.А. Трифонов ◽  
Н.И. Шишлина ◽  
А.Ю. Лобода ◽  
В.А. Хвостиков
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
The World ◽  
Temple Art ◽  
The Village ◽  
Portable Art

В статье приведены результаты всестороннего анализа уникального бронзового крюка с антропоморфными фигурками из дольмена эпохи ранней бронзы (прибл. 3200–2900 до н. э.) у ст. Царская (совр. Новосвободная) на Северо-Западном Кавказе. Установлено, что предмет отлит из мышьяковой бронзы по технологии утрачиваемой восковой модели, является крюком для вынимания мяса из котла и входит в набор церемониальной посуды для общественной трапезы. Изображения пары обнаженных мужчин, стоящих в боксерской стойке, представляют сцену ритуального поединка в присутствии или в честь божества, чьим атрибутом являются бычьи рога, на которых соперники стоят. Предмет в целом ассоциируется с темой погребального пира и погребальных игр. Вероятно, что сюжет и иконография изображений восходят к канонам храмового шумерского искусства раннединастического, а возможно, и более раннего времени. Адаптация этой темы в майкопской культурной среде объясняется ее принадлежностью к кругу культур самой северной периферии переднеазиатской цивилизации. Пара фигур, изображенная на крюке из Царской, является самым ранним образцом антропоморфной металлической мелкой пластики на Кавказе и, видимо, самым ранним в мире скульптурным изображением кулачного поединка. The paper reports on the results of comprehensive analysis of a unique bronze flesh-hook featuring anthropomorphic figures from an Early Bronze Age dolmen (ca. 3200–2900 BC) near the village of Tsarskaya (contemporary Novosvobodnaya) in the Northwest Caucasus (fig. 1). It was established that the flesh-hook was cast from arsenical bronze with the use of the lost wax method and was used to take meat out of a cauldron and, therefore, it entered a ceremonial table-ware set used in public feasts. The depicted pair of naked men in boxing stand (fig. 2; 3) represents a scene of ritual fight in the presence of or in honor of a deity whose attribute are bull horns (fig. 4), on which fighters are standing. As a whole, the item is associated with the theme of a funeral feast and funeral games. The narrative scene and iconography of the images are likely to have its roots in the canons of Sumerian temple art of the Early Dynastic period and, probably, even of the earlier time (fig. 5). The adaptation of this narrative to the Maikop cultural milieu is explained by its attribution to the circle of cultures located in the northernmost periphery of the Western Asia civilization. Two figures depicted on the Tsarskaya fleshhook represent the earliest example of anthropomorphic portable art in the Caucasus and the earliest sculptural image of fist fighting in the world.

scholarly journals The visible dead: dolmens and the landscape in Early Bronze Age Jordan

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Limited Area ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
Large Stone ◽  
Close Spatial Relationship ◽  
Rectangular Chamber ◽  
Over The Top

Overview:Dolmens are usually described as part of a regional megalithic phenomenon that spanned the 5th-2nd millennia BC. However, this presentation assumes that most ‘dolmens’ are mis-identified. When strictly defined, dolmens better reflect a local funerary tradition of the 4th millennium BC.Definitions:The term dolmen includes a variety of features whose only similarity is their use of large stone slabs. This presentation defines a dolmen as a freestanding,rectangular chamber formed by two upright orthostats along each long side, and a single roof slab over the top. Dolmens have often been conflated with cairns. This presentation defines a cairn as a large pile of small stones. Such features may have contained a low, cist burial chamber; others may simply be piles of field clearance.Distribution:Dolmens, as defined above, concentrate within a limited area of the east rift escarpment of the Jordan Valley, consistent with a local funerary tradition.Chronology: Recent dolmen excavations have yielded assemblages that date exclusively to the EB I (c.3700-3000 BC). This talk examines the close spatial relationship between dolmens and EB I settlement sites in a discrete geographical zone.

The water sensitive city: principles for practice

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 673-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. H. F. Wong ◽  
R. R. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Water Management ◽  
Major Overhaul ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Sustainable Urban Water Management ◽  
The World ◽  
System Resilience

With the widespread realisation of the significance of climate change, urban communities are increasingly seeking to ensure resilience to future uncertainties in urban water supplies, yet change seems slow with many cities facing ongoing investment in the conventional approach. This is because transforming cities to more sustainable urban water cities, or to Water Sensitive Cities, requires a major overhaul of the hydro-social contract that underpins conventional approaches. This paper provides an overview of the emerging research and practice focused on system resilience and principles of sustainable urban water management Three key pillars that need to underpin the development and practice of a Water Sensitive City are proposed: (i) access to a diversity of water sources underpinned by a diversity of centralised and decentralised infrastructure; (ii) provision of ecosystem services for the built and natural environment; and (iii) socio-political capital for sustainability and water sensitive behaviours. While there is not one example in the world of a Water Sensitive City, there are cities that lead on distinct and varying attributes of the water sensitive approach and examples from Australia and Singapore are presented.

Grapes or raisins? An early Bronze Age larder under the microscope

Antiquity ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (296) ◽  
pp. 345-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline R. Cartwright
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
Plant Remains

The sudden conflagration of an Early Bronze Age room at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh in the Jordan valley resulted in the preservation of a remarkable assemblage of plant remains. Using microscopy and experiment, the author was able to detect fruits previously sun dried for preservation. Grapes, figs, pomegranate, olives, cereals, legumes and capers provided the most conclusive evidence for the drying and preservation of food.

The Swedish Jordan Expedition 2013 at Tall Abu al-Kharaz. Preliminary results from Areas 9, 10 and 11

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 129-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Fischer ◽  
Teresa Bürge
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Jordan Valley ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
Iron Age I ◽  
The City

The Swedish excavations at Tall Abu al-Kharaz, a twelve-hectare tell in the central Jordan Valley, continued in 2013 in order to shed further light on the Iron Age occupation of this city that was first settled around 3200 BC, corresponding to the conventional Early Bronze Age IB. The Iron Age occupation lasted from the 12th century BC until 732 BC, when the city was conquered by the Neo-Assyrians. From 2009 to 2012, excavations in Area 9 revealed an exceptionally well-preserved two-storey compound dating from Iron Age I (local Phase IX), i.e. around 1100 BC. The stone compound was exposed for a length of 46 m. It consists of 21 rooms, with walls still standing to a height of more than 2 m. Several hundred complete vessels and other objects point to the extensive contacts of a fairly rich society. Contacts with the Aegean and Cyprus, through offshoots of the Sea Peoples/Philistines, and with Egypt and Phoenicia, were ascertained. At the end of the 2012 season, the eastern limit of the compound was reached. In 2013, complementary excavations were carried out to the north and east of the compound. The eastern extension revealed a defence system which had originally been built in the Early Bronze Age IB/II around 3100 BC but had been reused as a part of the Iron Age I defence structures. Test trenches in the north-eastern part of Area 10 and in Area 11 north-east of Area 10, i.e. a hitherto unexplored area of the city, revealed remains from the Late Bronze Age and the Early and Late Iron Age.

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